The English higher education regulator has flagged issues with “organisation and management” on some courses despite another year of improved National Student Survey (NSS) scores.

Universities boosted their performance across all themes for the second year in a row in the all-important poll, which questions final-year students on their academic experience, teaching and assessments, and their institution’s support services.

More than 357,000 final-year students took part – 71.5 per cent of all eligible students – and 86.9 per cent of them are positive about the teaching on their course, up from 85.4 per cent last year.

This year’s cohort also rated assessment and feedback higher than last year’s, with 80.9 per cent expressing a positive view, compared with 78.3 per cent previously.

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On “organisation and management” questions, 78.4 per cent are positive, an improvement on last year’s 75.3 per cent.

But the survey “found some institutions are performing noticeably below their benchmarked positivity score” in this area, the OfS said, hinting at potential underlying issues at some providers. The section includes a question on how well changes to courses were communicated – an issue that has previously been flagged by students during the wave of job cuts taking place across the sector. 

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����̽����Ƶ analysis of the results identified that University of London institutions Goldsmiths, Birkbeck and SOAS, as well as BPP University, University for the Creative Arts, Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Oxford, all had a gap of more than 10 percentage points between their benchmarked score and this year’s positivity measure in this area.

One reason given for the overall discrepancies was the experience of disabled students, whose views are generally less positive overall than those of their counterparts, with the most significant differences seen in response to the organisation and management questions.

“Student voice” remains the area where students are least positive, with 68 per cent saying it was clear that students’ comments on a course were acted upon. But this was still an improvement on last year, when just 63 per cent said the same.

Asked about free speech, 88.3 per cent of students in England say they feel able to express ideas, opinions and beliefs – up from 86.4 per cent last year despite concerns about “cancel culture” on campuses that have prompted new OfS conditions, set to come in next month.  

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John Blake, director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students (OfS), said he was especially pleased “to see students providing powerful feedback on their experience of teaching, a crucial part of their higher education experience”.

But he said the results also show “areas where there is room for improvement”, highlighting how “institutions across the sector could be doing more to ensure disabled students are getting the high-quality higher education experience they are entitled to”.

In England, students have not been asked about their overall satisfaction with a course since 2022 – a year of record low sentiment, in part because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The question continues to be asked in other parts of the UK. In Scotland, a recovery in overall satisfaction levels that started last year continued, rising to 80.7 per cent having fallen from 85 per cent in 2020 to 77.1 per cent in 2023.

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Francesca Osowska, chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said it showed “the positive impact of focusing on student needs and the quality of learning and teaching”.

Wales also saw increased satisfaction, rising from 80 per cent in 2024 to 82 per cent this year. 

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Simon Pirotte, chief executive of the new regulator Medr, said the “outcomes are a testament to impactful work across institutions in Wales”.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com